1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to heat exchangers and, in particular, to an improved system, method, and apparatus for pulsed-jet-enhanced heat exchangers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Emerging and next-generation air vehicles will be required to manage unprecedented quantities of thermal, mechanical, and electrical power. This need arises from the demands for advanced propulsion, aerodynamics, sensor, and weapon/payload capability necessary to defeat threats, perform with greater fuel efficiency, reduce noise and emissions, and decrease life cycle cost. Specific technologies of interest, such as advanced engines, high power sensors, directed energy weapons, and enhanced electronic actuation, will require much more power than today's systems. While demand for power management functionality grows, the space and weight available for such capability continues to shrink. Since heat transfer systems (i.e., heat exchangers) are a critical element of power management, this capability must also improve. However, advancement of heat exchanger technology is not keeping up with demand.
At least three methods have been used to increase the rate of heat removal from heat exchangers. One method is simply to physically increase or scale the size of the heat exchanger to increase its wall surface area. Another method is to use materials that have greater thermal conductivity to allow more heat to pass through the heat exchanger for a given temperature difference. A third method characterizes the state-of-the-art, which is to use micro channel technology to configure a given volume of heat exchanger with more surface area without increasing its overall size. Although each of these solutions is workable, an improved solution that overcomes the limitations of the prior art and which meets the current and future design challenges is needed.